This invention relates to the interactive control of large information displays and, specifically, to the remote interactive control of such information displays by multiple, simultaneous users.
The standard configuration of the desktop computer introduced in the 1970s consisted of a monitor for visual display, and a keyboard and mouse for inputs. Displays of computer desktops were traditionally controlled via the keyboard and mouse. The development of light pens and touch screens for direct interaction with the desktop monitor provided an alternate means of interaction with the desktop computer system. These tethered means of interaction for the human user constrained the number of people who could view the information to the single user and a small audience. The need to share the displayed information with a larger audience led to the use of large screen displays and video projection equipment with the desktop monitor.
The display of computer desktops onto a translucent screen via rear projection has become prevalent since the 1990s. The resulting magnified desktop display allows a larger audience to view information at meetings, lectures, and classroom settings. Manufacturers of video projector equipment have refined their high resolution projectors so as to offer resolutions of 1280 ×1024 pixels and to make them available at moderate cost.
Notwithstanding this development in technology, a human user interaction is still constrained to desktop based, tethered control of the application windows on the large, wall-based display. The earlier use of light pens to interact with the desktop monitor may have influenced the idea of using a laser pointer as an input device for activating window menus and elements and as an electronic grease pencil. The introduction of laser pointers as an alternative input device to the mouse and keyboard has allowed human users to interact in an untethered mode.
To detect and track a moving beam of laser light on a wall-based display area, wide-angle lens cameras positioned behind the translucent screen are used to capture a rapidly moving circular laser beam. This basic imaging capability motivated the idea to use a laser pointer as an input device to replace the traditional desktop keyboard and mouse, in conjunction with the replacement of the desktop monitor by the large projected display wall.
The first display areas were limited to the resolution and physical area of the screen. To achieve an increased display area, one needs to combine multiple displays together to create a larger contiguous display area that can be treated as a single screen for interaction. X-Windows (a UNIX based windows protocol) based software such as X-MetaX has allowed for the seamless horizontal tiling of multiple screens to form a single continuous display of the computer desktop. The X-Windows capability improved upon the display of separately horizontally tiled windows that were not contiguous. This represents the current state-of-the-art of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Interactive DataWall.
The AFRL Interactive Data Wall art consists of single, one-at-a-time usage of a laser pointer as an input device with a video projection display screen. In essence, it uses a laser pointer as a substitute for a keyboard or mouse. An approach to tracking a single laser pointer has been disclosed in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/453,258 entitled “Display Pointer Tracking Device” by Sweed. This approach is hardware based and is limited to the tracking of an unmodified laser pointer output, typically a circular focused spot as seen by the human eye when projected on a screen surface. Single laser pointer implementations foreclose the possibility of multiple persons interacting simultaneously with a large display, as it has only one laser spot that is tracked on the basis of laser beam intensity.
The use of the aforementioned Interactive DataWall is still limited to a single user, i.e. only one person at a time can manipulate the computer desktop as projected onto the screen. There is no way to allow more than one person to simultaneously access the display system using the Display Pointer Tracking Device in Sweed, which is based strictly on intensity detection. Large display systems are designed to project and display the computer desktop in a larger format than is possible on a standard computer monitor.
The AFRL Interactive Data Wall is limited to single user interaction with the display wall using that user's laser pointer and voice commands. The Interactive Data Wall uses a “Display Pointer Tracking Device” developed by Sweed (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/453,258), which is hardware based and tracks the laser pointer output on the basis of laser beam intensity.
There exists a patent for a teaching installation for learning and practicing the use of fire-fighting equipment (Deshoux/U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,552). This invention involves a large display screen that shows varying fire sequences controlled by a computer. The user interacts with the display by using four fire extinguishers fitted with laser pointers. The optical sensors identify the point on the display where the laser image is focused. The computer can determine which of the four lasers is being used; however, it is not specified that multiple users can operate the invention simultaneously.
There exists a patent for a method and display control system for accentuating (Nguyen/U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,181). In this invention, the user can draw on a display by using a hand-held light wand. This light is picked up by a CCD camera aimed at the display. The accentuation drawn by the user can be displayed in different colors. It appears that this invention is intended for use by a single user and not multiple simultaneous users. In the computer input system and method of using the same (Hauck/U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,079), the input light source is that of a hand-held lamp. Aside from that, it is very similar to Nguyen's patent.
A similar invention, an information presentation apparatus, and information display apparatus (Arita/U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,078), allows multiple users to interact with a display using multiple laser pointers. The inventers claim that the pointers could be distinguished from each other by using laser pointers with varying wavelengths or even varying shapes. However, this particular patent does not incorporate the integration of voice commands with the users' laser pointers.
The unconstrained pointing interface for natural human interaction with a display-based computer system (Kahn/U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,361) may also facilitate multiple users (without voice commands). In this case, the laser pointer image detector is located within the laser pointer.
There also exists a method and apparatus for detecting the location of a light source (Barrus/U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,783). In this invention, the user can draw on a display by using a laser pointer. This light is not picked up by a CCD camera like the other patents. Instead, pixel mirrors are sequentially switched to reflect light from a corresponding on-screen pixel to a detector in an order which permits identifying the on-screen pixel illuminated by the spot of laser light. It appears that this invention is intended for use by a single user and not multiple simultaneous users. The multi-scan type display system with pointer function (Ogino/U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,210) is similar to Barrus/U.S. Pat No. 5,914,783 in that it facilitates use of one laser pointer. The pointer position is handled mainly with circuitry as opposed to image processing software.
In view of the above, it would therefore be desirable to have an apparatus which expands the single user capability of the AFRL Interactive Data Wall to at least four independent users with those users being distinguished by their selected laser patterns. It would be further desirable to enable multiple users to work collectively by their simultaneous access of an information display in collaborative and team applications where such simultaneous access is provided by each user's respective laser pointer patterns and voice commands.
Applications for such an apparatus would include education, corporate and professional training environments, and planning and decision making applications where multiple users interact with a large amount of data. Other markets would include financial trading, budget preparation and analysis for organizations, product planning and marketing decisions. Advanced versions of such an apparatus could provide a solution for large network management for telecommunications, electric power, and corporate networking areas. These applications involve the use of geographic, educational curriculum, and information presentation displays, supplemented by supporting information and images, with multiple users trying to interact with display medium. Managing this myriad of information types and formats is unwieldy today, and leads to solutions which are at best, compromises.